Peeling and grating safely

Suzie: I'm in my kitchen with Caiden and Emma. We've washed our hands, our workspace is clean and tidy and we're about to prepare some crunchy snacks. What are we making?

Caiden: We're going to make carrot sticks with dip.

Emma: We'd better start by washing our carrots and cucumber.

Suzie: OK now that those are clean, let's peel the carrots. Which utensil should we use?

Caiden: The vegetable peeler.

Suzie: Exactly! Have you used one before?

Caiden: No.

Suzie: Well firstly, we should always have an adult here when using one of these.

This part is very sharp, so keep your fingers away from the cutting edge.

Hold the handle tightly with your writing hand. Point one end of the carrot down and hold it tightly.

Start from the middle of the carrot and use the sharp edge to make long strokes away from you.

Turn the carrot and keep peeling.

Now you try.

Perfect! Now turn the carrot the other way round, hold the peeled end and then you can finish the other end.

Now we need to grate the cucumber for the dip.

Emma: I can do that!

Suzie: OK let's swap over our equipment. This is my grater.

Emma: Each side has different-sized holes.

Suzie: Well spotted. Which do you think would work better for the dip?

Emma: I think the side with the bigger holes.

Suzie: That's right because the smaller holes will make the cucumber too mushy.

Now each of these holes has a sharp blade, so it's important to keep your fingers away. Always ask an adult to supervise you.

OK let's use this side.

Set the grater on the chopping board, take the cucumber in your writing hand and for me that's my right hand.

Now use your other hand to hold the handle tightly.

Rub the cucumber against the holes in long strokes and going downwards.

Lift and take back up to the top and go again.

Emma: When do you stop?

Suzie: When you have a small chunk left in your hands, you don't want to press your fingers against the blade, so you stop then. Would you like to have a go?

Emma: Yes please! But because I'm left-handed, do I turn it around?

Suzie: Yes you do, so you turn that around and then you take that in your writing hand and off you go! From the top and downwards.

Emma: Look! There's loads of juice in there.

Suzie: There is, so I'm going to put this cucumber in the sieve so all that excess moisture and liquid, look it's dripping, is taken out.

Nicely done! Now we can mix this into our dip.

Caiden: What a mess!

Suzie: Let's tidy up! These scraps aren't just rubbish, what can we do with them?

Emma: We could put them in a compost or a food waste bin.

Suzie: Exactly! And that food waste could be reused to grow new vegetables.

Caiden: Or my Grandad uses scraps to make stock for soup.

Suzie: That is a brilliant way to use leftover food!

Well done! You now know how to peel and grate correctly and safely.

I've sliced the carrots into sticks and added some mint and a pinch of salt, it looks like a lovely, healthy snack. Let's get stuck in!